Some Popular Toothpastes Contain Lead, Mercury, and Arsenic

While you may think of lead as a dangerous contaminant that shows up in old paint and water pipes, it’s also been found in everyday products on shelves right now, from chocolate to cinnamon. And the latest spot where lead has been spotted is toothpastes and tooth powders.

Lead Safe Mama, a consumer advocacy site founded by Tamara Rubin after her children and she experienced lead poisoning, has been focused on testing consumer products for lead levels since 2009. Rubin recently initiated crowd-funded, third-party, independent laboratory testing on dozens of different dental care products, and found that the majority had potentially unsafe levels of lead—and some products also contained unsafe amounts of cadmium, arsenic, and mercury.